


Beach House

by Tribeca



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-16 14:28:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tribeca/pseuds/Tribeca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short little story of Penny and Sheldon (and Leonard for a while) and a house at the beach.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beach House

Penny walked along the water’s edge, loose blonde hairs flying in frenzy with the wind, her face pink from the day’s sunshine. Cold salt water swirled at her toes, lapping and teasing before flowing back into the ocean with the outgoing tide. She glanced at the horizon, squinting at the ball of fire that appeared to dip just below the surface of the water. She knew that wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he’d be stopping now and thinking of her. 

He’d once spoken to her about time zones. She’d gotten lost watching his mouth as he chattered on and on about sundials and solar time, about longitudes and the Prime Meridian and GMT, none of which really registered with her. She was just happy to prop back on her elbows and listen to him speak. She laughed inwardly and wanted to point out to him that all she had done was asked him the time and he had proceeded to tell her how to build a clock. That was her Shelly Bean.

“Here, put this on before you freeze.”

Looking up she saw Leonard there, shirt balled, crinkled in his fist, thrusting the familiar blue cotton fabric towards her. She studied it momentarily then inched her gaze across his face.

“But that’s…”

“Yeah, I know, his…it’s his…here, take it, put it on,” he mumbled, reaching up to drag his hand through his wind beaten curls.

“Where did you…”

“On the bed. I guess he left in such a rush he overlooked it when he was packing to get out of here. So unlike him, huh?”

She reached for it, desperate to feel any part of Sheldon. Locking eyes with her ex, she slowly pulled the button-down shirt across her shoulders and they both watched as the long tails fluttered down, reaching just above her knees. Pulling it tightly around her body, she sighed gently while pushing her nose into the collar, the scent of him filling her.

“I still don’t know why he even brought a dress shirt. We’re at the beach for God’s sake. He buys all his shirts at ‘Super Heroes R Us’ and refuses to wear anything else, yet he brings this on vacation. You’re right, he is a whack-a-doodle.”

“He didn’t bring it,” she confessed, “I snuck it in his bag because I wanted him to wear it when we went dancing.”

“God, this gets worse and worse. Anything else you need to tell me before I leave?”

“I guess the only thing left to say Leonard,” she raised her voice to be heard over the crashing waves, “is, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

Leonard pulled his hoodie tighter to ward off the chill of the evening air, “It’s always been him, hasn’t it?”

“You knew?”

He poked the sand with his toe, “Since the first day.”

Swiping the back of her hand across her face, she locked eyes with him, “Then why?”

“Because I wanted you.” 

Those were the last words he’d spoken to her before he left to return to Pasadena. 

~s/p~

She puttered around in the beach house, peering out the window as the sun set on yet another day, sinking further down into the sea. Sheldon and Leonard had both left her now. She shuddered, thinking that was how she always suspected it would turn out. The three of them, best friends, lovers, confidants, roommates, competitors…everything to each other…battling till the end…sorting through life together. 

When Leonard had found her in Sheldon’s arms, he’d gone just short of crazy. He’d yelled and thrown things and threatened to kill Sheldon. Penny explained that they were only hugging, that she and Sheldon had not crossed any lines. She reminded Leonard that they’d been broken up for over six months but he’d said that didn’t matter, he still loved her, always would. Sheldon had towered over his roommate and ordered him to back off, Penny feared they’d come to blows, but Leonard had stormed out and Sheldon had packed and left and now she found herself alone. 

She cleaned her dinner dishes and after putting them away she snapped on the gas fire logs to rid the house of the coolness of the night. Settling onto the sofa she shrugged, comfortable with alone, and scanned through the television channels. The flickering screen soon lulled her to sleep, warmed by the fire. When she woke, she found him sitting across from her in an overstuffed chair, his head rolled back, eyes closed, hair mussed from the sea air.

“Sheldon?” she whispered as she pulled herself to a sitting position.

He stretched and eased his eyes open, “Penny, really, you are a female alone here. You need to lock the doors before entering into REM sleep.”

“I thought you’d be in Texas or Germany or Switzerland or some other far away place by now.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, you left me. You argued with Leonard and then left, I thought you were scared, maybe you were gone for good.”

“I left, Penny, to give you and Leonard time to talk.”

“But you took all of your stuff with you.”

He studied her, trailing his eyes across his shirt she wore, “Apparently I didn’t take all of my stuff.”

She smiled, “It made me feel close to you.”

“And you wanted that? To feel close to me?”

“More than anything.”

“And Leonard?”

She laughed, “Nope, I don’t think he really wanted to feel close to you.”

He rolled his eyes, “Sarcasm Penny? Really?”

“Not sarcasm. Truth.”

“I see.” 

“We never got to go dancing Sheldon.”

“Oh, and I was looking so forward to it.”

“Okay, Moon Pie, who’s being sarcastic now?”

He smiled at her and offered a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Dance with me Shelly Bean.”

She stood and moved to him, extending her hand as she got closer.

“I don’t dance, Penny. You know this.”

“Dance with me,” she said when he twined his fingers through hers and stood.

“There’s no music,” he sighed, pulling her nearer, burying his face in her hair.

“We don’t need music.”

“Are we really going to do this?” he asked as they swayed to an intimate rhythm audible only to the two of them.

“Without a doubt,” she said, smoothing her hands across his chest.

“I don’t know much about relationships Penny. This was not in my plans, you know. I begged God; I prayed that I wouldn’t fall in love with you.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in God.”

“Well,” he hedged, “I had to pray to someone, now didn’t I?”

“Your momma would be so happy,” she teased.

He huffed, “Let’s just keep it between us, can we? That I pray?”

“But you prayed not to love me.”

“And it appears that He denied my prayer request.”

“Sometimes,” she whispered, “the best answer to a prayer is no.”

“Penny…”

“Kiss me.”

“You’re wearing my shirt.”

“Kiss me.”

“I’m so busy as it is.”

“Kiss me.” 

They tumbled into bed, the brilliant physicist and his beautiful neighbor. He was unsure and she was so sure, and together they figured it all out. He learned that being with this woman was fate, something that, until this night, he’d never really believed in. He found he was too consumed to think much beyond the moment. He switched off his brain and just let her love him. 

Outside, moonlight slithered across the sea. Inside, his old blue shirt rested on the floor beside their bed. As night turned to morning, they were still arguing about who loved whom the most.


End file.
